In all areas of the economy, in particular in the office area, data in text and more recently video is received, processed, classified and often retransmitted. The continuing development of the technology in this area has the resulting effect that office communication systems have become more and more voluminous and overtaxed.
With multilocation systems and their connection in private, local and public communication networks, the communication process to exchange information by necessity becomes more and more complicated. In addition, network communications which provide for the paperless transfer of data, documents or other information may have the same or different text processing systems, filing systems and computers etc., all of which may involve different communication networks. For example, with network connections the office communication systems may be coupled to data processing equipment and in addition allow the tying in of an integrated digital network (IDN) or a integrated service digital network (ISDN).
Modern office communication systems can assist and facilitate the user in job performance but require specific knowledge of the system involved and considerable experience regarding its use. This is particularly true for the constantly growing communication tasks in the office and in the administration of the variety of functions provided.
With this in mind, certain systems and devices for data handling will be briefly discussed. A device for remote controlled switching on and off of electrical units, particularly computer equipment is disclosed in DE-PS 29 51 550. In this regard, a central station is coupled through a standard interface transmission control device, a modem and a standard-telecommunication line and/or standard-data line to remote stations for a remote data transmission. In operation a connection is made with the modem by way of an automatic selecting device of the central computer. When the connection is completed and after an acknowledgement signal has been received from the modem of the remote station in the central station, digital control signals are sent from the central computer to a remote controlled switching device which is provided in the remote station. The central station generates and transmits a self identifying coded communication identifying the particular switching device which it wants switched on. To determine the availability of the remote station, it must signal the center computer that it is available to receive the transmission. A timer is provided between the remote station and central station and if the availability cannot be determined within a certain predetermined span of time, the central computer terminates the connection. For this purpose, the remote station is provided with a programmable read-only memory which generates a predetermined signal sequence (message). The central computer compares the coded signal sequence with the one stored in its memory. For example, if within the predetermined time interval, for example 100 ms, confirmation of the coded signal is made, the power supply device of the remote station is signaled to turn on.
With the use of such a device it is possible to transmit data at any time. However, data transmission is particularly advantageous at night or on weekends or at any other time when the traffic load on the communication networks is not too high and the fees involved for their use are relatively low. Furthermore, the computer equipment, is only switched on when a data transfer can occur.
In DE-OS 37 21 047, a communication control method is disclosed which involves connecting through the public telephone network a calling station and a called station. Once this is done, the next step involves selecting a transmission mode so as to enable a transmission of messages between telephones, teletex devices, personal computers, facsimile or similar devices. A communication transmitting device is provided and includes, among other things, a system control unit which controls the total operation of the communication transmission device. This control unit processes different communication and transmission functions and different data processing operations. A coder/decoder is also provided which performs a data concentration or expansion. The device is further provided with a communication control unit which can perform the communication-processing steps in different communication modes, for example, for facsimile, teletex or PC-communication. A modem serves to modulate the signal transmitted and demodulate a received signal for processing and/or analog-digital or digital-analog conversion. In addition, the modem can be operated in different modes which may be required for the various transmission functions.
A processing system with a number of peripheral input locations for dictation is set forth in DE-PS 21 59 848. This system involves input locations which are connected to a central office for a dictation transmission. In the central office, the recorded dictations are monitored and converted into the written text. In order to identify the dictations which come from different dictation input locations or to identify the different dictation segments coming from the same dictation input location, each dictation input location is provided with an answer-back unit which marks each dictation segment with an identification code. In the central office, the sorting and combining of the individual text segments into a complete text is then performed in light of the identification assigned to each individual text segment. In order to enable an immediate checking of the dictation after it is transcribed into text, each dictation input location is provided with a display screen which permits a visual display of the text segments which are stored in memory. The message transmission of the dictation and text between the input locations and the central office is performed by a private communication network.
With the different office communication systems and text processing systems, it is possible at any given point in time to build up a communication network. However, these systems are normally adapted specifically for the particular requirements of the users. In addition, the required control devices are normally very expensive and do not offer high user comfort. Furthermore, the remote data transmission must often be initiated, monitored and controlled by an operator.